At the start of the 1990s, Cartier had developed an enviable reputation for its luxury jewelry, but its watchmaking side was in danger of being squandered. Behind such iconic designs as the Tank Cintrée, Santos-Dumont, and Tortue was a proud timekeeping legacy that dated back to founder Louis Cartier himself. Owing to Cartier’s family heirs in Paris, London, and New York, the watches saw a creative burst of energy well into the 1960s, driven more by shape and proportion than complexity and grand complications.